L'academie de Beauxbâtons
by DarkDayDream
Summary: The academy of Beauxbâtons in France. Eng. Célestin Clemenceau has a crazy year at the academy, and whats going on in Great Brittan? Who knows, maybe you'll have to read further.
1. Part I Arriver

Part I – Arriver

Sun streamed through the carriage windows. It was getting quite warm out for an autumn day.

Célestin was startled from his sleep when the carriage gave a sudden jolt. The vehicle shook a bit, during which Célestin bashed his head against the narrow wooden door frame of the carriage.

"Ow!" He started, then he pushed himself off the wall, and looked across the carriage. Christelle was gripping the window sill of the window, for fear of another rut in the road. "Oh, you're still awake." He looked to his right, where his best friend Jean-Jacques still slept. He was all slumped over, like a squishy vegetable. "Well _he's_ still asleep." He motioned to the lump of Jean, his black hair giving off a glint in the golden midday sun.

"Yeah. You two have been sleeping for hours. And you left me up, with nobody to talk to. I've been staring out the window for hours." She said coolly. Christelle Jobidon was the other best friend of Célestin. She had brilliant blond hair, and crystal blue eyes, maybe that's why her name was Christelle. They had first met, along with Jean, in their first year of school at Beauxbâtons Academy of Magic.

"Well, if we didn't have such a long trip. If we didn't live so far away from school." Célestin complained. "How long _is_ he going to sleep anyway?"

"Who knows? He can sleep through anything, lucky thing. We only have a little while longer anyway. We should be arriving soon, we just passed Arles."

"Good, then I can wake up now." A voice from the corner of the carriage said. It was Jean.

Christelle shot Jean a dangerous glare. "And how long _have_ you been awake?"

"Oh, long enough." He replied, then he followed his statement up with a big yawn. "I know, were almost there."

The three went on talking of their summer and what they all were hoping to do at school this year. Célestin went on holiday to Germany, Christelle stayed home all summer, and Jean went to visit family in Italy. Jean actually said it was quite boring, and it's very hard for him to be bored, but he also tends to exaggerate a bit.

After about an hour of riding further, the palisades of Beauxbâtons came into view. "Look!" Jean exclaimed, "There it is! We here! Finally…" He trailed off in complaint.

Beauxbâtons was growing closer and closer, but it seemed like hours until they arrived. Like the Earth kept stretching under their horse drawn carriage, trying to keep as much distance as possible between them and their destination. It took more than another hour until the carriage passed through the large stone gate leading into the rather large school grounds.

The powder blue carriage bobbed up and down as it moved along the cobble stone path that leads to the Palace's main gates. Gardens slowly rolled past them, perfectly tended to. The beautiful palace flowers were still in bloom from the summer. The autumn plants had not yet started to flourish because it was still August in the Mediterranean area. Halting at the horse block in front of the main gates, they had finally arrived. Numerous powder blue carriages had already pulled up, unloading their students and cargo.

Jean stood up and ducked out of the carriage and stepped onto the block. He stretched his arms up above his head, ruffling his light blue topcoat, the long white sleeves of his shirt stretched out when his cuffs slid down on his arms. Christelle followed suit and stepped out being Jean.

"Well, it's good to be back." She declared with a smile. She sighed and pulled her wand out, "Arrivés!" she cried as she pointed her wand at the Beauxbâtons crest above the main gate. This signaled the arrival of their carriage, and instantly their baggage was sent to their dormitories. She straightened her powder blue skirt, "Shall we?" Christelle suggested to Célestin, who was now out of the carriage. She pushed her long blonde hair behind her ears with one smooth motion.

"Ouais, lets go." Jean replied hurriedly. He started forward towards the main gates. The high arch was at least 3 stories high, and the large double cedar doors we gilded in silver. Other students had already begun to enter the school, many of them older students, most of the Septièmes. As for the other Troisièmes, there were not many yet.

The trio passed under the arches to the school, and were now inside the main palace. The floors were made of an ocean blue stone, but nobody really knew what it was. The bottom half of the walls were made of the same stone for about the first five feet. From there up to the thirteen foot high white ceiling, it was glimmering white plaster. The plaster was shiny but it also had a dull translucent property to it. It really was a beautiful palace, every bit perfectly manicured to perfection by the school's maid, Mademoiselle Guillard, all of the students loved her.

Mlle Guillard was a dainty twenty-year-old witch that really didn't have any other passion but cleaning. She really just liked to please people with keeping the castle spotless. Continuously wearing a classical black maid's wardrobe, consisting of a black one piece skirt and top, with a frilly white apron, she always had a smile on. It takes a lot to make Mlle Guillard upset. Even when a student would accidentally knock over a potted plant in the Inner Court or mess up a corridor with muddy shoes, she always cleaned it up with a smile.

Célestin, Jean and Christelle preceded straight ahead through the entrance hall, past the Outer Court, to the Grande Pièce, the main dining hall. Many students had already arrived to pick up their schedules. Lines of students at tables across the Hall stretched from one end of the gigantic hall to the other. It was really about the size of a football field, with ceilings that stretched up through all 6 stories of the castle. The three went to the far side of the hall and joined in at the back of the line that had a cloud of colored glowing pixies spell out "3èmes" above it.

"Well this is going to take a while," Jean observed, they were standing at the very back of the line, with about 100 students ahead of them. "Hey, Cel, why're you so quiet? You haven't said a word since we got here." He called Célestin by his nickname.

Célestin jumped at the sound of his name, he was too busy staring up at the ceiling of the hall which also happened to have thousands of colored glowing pixies. "Huh? Oh, ummm, I was just thinking. Thinking about this year." He lied. He really didn't know what he was thinking about. Just a mass of thoughts ran through his head.

"Hé! Cel! Telle! Jean!" Someone called from the line to the left of theirs.

"Oh it's Rémy!" Christelle told the other two, she must have spotted the two hands waving from behind Frédéric Dupont, a very large Quatrième. "Salut Rémy!" She called back.

Rémy stepped out from behind to greet Christelle, "Salut Telle!" He kissed Christelle very quickly once on each cheek, and she back. "How are you? It's been a while!"

"Very good! And yourself?" Christelle answered enthusiastically.

"Oh not bad. I'm just glad to be back here. Hey, Jean, Cel! How have the two have you been?" Jean stepped right up and shook Rémy's hand.

"Really great Rémy!" Jean said happily.

Célestin stood next to Jean and said, "Hey Rémy! I've been the same as him." He motioned to Jean.

Rémy was still standing next to Christelle, he was tall, almost as tall as Célestin and Jean. He had short dark brown hair, almost black, and strangely piercing brown eyes. He often hung out with Célestin and Jean, because he really didn't care for the other 4èmes in their house. Fréderic Dupont being one of the ones he didn't care for.

Being a 4ème, he didn't really have many classes with Jean and Célestin, but they were in the same Maison. All three of them, Célestin, Jean and Rémy were all in the Maison de Soleil, or the House of the Sun, which was located in the south tower. Christelle was in a separate house, since she was a girl. Girls and boys houses were separate. There were three houses for girls and three for the boys. Nuage, Lumière and Lune were the girls' dorms, and Soleil, Terre, and Étoile were the boys'. Christelle happened to be in the Maison du Nuage, the House of the Clouds.

"Looks guys, I got a new wand, since the last one I had was broken by that stupid little goblin last year." He pulled out a brand new wand of dark Rosemary. It even still had that new polished look. It had a carving of a phoenix on the handle.

"Oh, man, that's a cool wand!" Jean complimented, he pulled out his own wand from the folds of the light blue top jacket. It was an ash wand that had a white beaded tassel that protruded form wand's handle.

"It's very nice Rémy" Christelle said Christelle over her shoulder, because she had turned to see Pauline Leroux, another 5ème girl in Nuage. The two of them had become good friends in their past school years at the Academy.

"Hello Pauline!" The three boys said all at the same time.

"Hi boys! I'm doing well, just so you don't have to ask. I'm sort of sick of people asking me that." She responded.

"Oh…" Christelle blushed a bit and looked down, she must have just asked Pauline how she was doing.

"Oh, no not you Telle. You're fine, it's just everyone else." Pauline quickly fixed the situation. "So anyway, what extra classes are you taking this year? I'm taking Farian IV and Latin III."

"Oh I'm taking Farian IV, Pauline!" Jean said.

"And I'm taking Latin III." Célestin jutted in.

"Me too" Rémy interjected.

"Well then Pauline, I'm taking Farian V and German I." Christelle announced. "But anyway Lina, we'll have our core classes together right?"

The line moved again, it had been moving fairly fast. All of them were now close to the front of the lines.

"Rémy Lavoir" M. Riche, the Runes teacher, called from the front table.

"Here." Rémy said stepping forward so the professor could see him. "Bonjour M. Riche. Did you ha--"

"Célestin Clemenceau" Mlle Basque suddenly read his name at the front of the 5ème line.

"Oui Mademoiselle. I'm over here" Célestin strode up to the front table.

"Bonjour Célestin, I hope you had a good summer." She said. Mlle Basque was the Farian and Latin teacher. She was very pretty, and young too. She wore thin wire glasses, and had long blond hair that was always pulled back into a bun or another hair fashion. Everyone in school thought she was extremely beautiful.

"Merci, and I'm sure you had a good summer as well?" Célestin replied politely.

"Yes, I did, thank you very much. Now, here is your schedule, your new dorm rune and a letter from Mme Maxime." She handed him a single paper envelope. "Now I believe I'll be seeing you in Farian VI, am I correct?"

"Yes, that's right Mademoiselle."

"Alright then, off you go." Winking at him. She read the next name off the list, "Christelle Jobidon." And Christelle proceeded to get her envelope.

Célestin waited off to the side of the line for Christelle and Jean. Christelle soon joined him.

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau." Mlle Basque read his name. He got his envelope and went to join Célestin and Christelle a few steps away.

"Well, we should get headed to our dorm. I guess we'll see you at the Ball then Telle." Célestin spoke up.

Christelle responded, "Ok, sounds good to me. Meet me and Pauline in the Inner Court at 6 o'clock. Ok?"

"Ok, Telle, see you at 7." Jean said.

"Bye Telle" the two of them said to her.

"Bye you two, 7, don't forget." She reminded them.

Jean turned to go and threw over his shoulder "We won't." Célestin followed him. They went back down out of the Hall to the south, the way they had come in. More students were arriving, it had been about only a half an hour since their own arrival to the palace. They stopped in the entrance hall. There was a statue of a dragon to the right side of the hall when you came into the palace. It has made from grey marble, but it had painted golden eyes.

"You have the entrance rune Cel?" Jean asked Célestin.

Célestin pulled out a piece of parchment from the envelope with a rune on it. It was the rune Dagaz, the rune for dawn. The rune was shaped like an X with a line connecting the corners vertically on each side. "Ouais, its right here." Célestin took his dark brown Rosemary wand out from his jacket. He drew the rune with the tip of his wand in the dragon's right eye. The two disappeared completely from the hall way with a gust of wind.

Célestin felt his stomach lurch as his feet couldn't touch a surface. Suddenly, the two apparated in the meeting room of the Soleil dorm. Inside the room, there was a royal blue rug that was really fluffy, so fluffy it felt like foam. The large fire place on side of the dorm facing inwards towards the palace was lit and had scented sandalwood wood burning on it. The opposite wall had a large bay window, with large cushions on the window sill for sitting or laying. More windows were on the east and west walls of the dorm, but they were taller and a bit thinner than the large bay window at the back.

On the ceiling there was a large fresco of a shining sun with blazing rays, that actually lit the room at night time, that is if you pointed at it and said "Lumos". In the center of the room, there were large chairs. And off to the sides under the windows there were tables and chairs for working on school work. The stair leading up to the rooms were on the sides on the circular room, they were spiral stairs that disappeared into the ceiling to both the left and right.

Many other students were already in the dorm, including Rémy. Henry Evard, the house leader for this year was standing a few feet away from the fire discussing something with Benjamin Jouve, a deuxième.

"Hey Cel, lets go get a room. Before they are all taken" Jean suggested.

"Alright, let's go then."

Célestin turned and went up the stairs that was on the right, right next to where they has apparated to. They climbed up the stair for 3 stories before they found a room that was empty. There were 5 beds to a room. There was no specific grouping in the dorm, so it didn't matter what year your roommates were. The beds were four poster beds with navy blue blankets and curtains trimmed in gold thread.

"I got this one!" Célestin ran across the room and flung himself on the bed second from the left. It was really poofy and over stuffed. There were at least 5 comforters on the bed, and it had maybe 10 or so pillows. In fact the bed was so overloaded and luxurious, it was almost hard to climb onto at almost 3 feet from the floor.

"Then I want this one." Jean repeated what Célestin had just done and threw himself on the bed on the end, next to Célestin. He pulled out his wand and moved to the end of his bed, he leaned over and clearly said, "Je suis arrive!" And his baggage immediately appeared at the foot of his bed.

Célestin did the same. His baggage appeared just as Jean's had done. "Now to put it all away." Célestin said to himself. So the two started to unpack their belongings and put them in the large boudoirs next to their beds. Célestin hung all of his robes and extra jackets on the bar, along with his cloaks and other clothing items. He put his shoes in the bottom and all his personals up in the top, on the shelf to the left. On the right of the boudoir, there were more shelves for books and scrolls of parchment and all his other school supplies. Célestin unpacked and put all his books and supplies on the shelves all in a neat ordered fashion.

Just as he was putting the last book on the shelf, there was a knock on the door to their room, it opened a crack and then a bit more. Rémy's head popped in the door, "Hey, can I room in here with you guys too?"

"Sure, dint see why not, you Jean?" Célestin looked at Jean.

"Nah, you can room with us Rémy. Take your pick on beds."

"Thanks a lot guys!" Rémy strode over to the bed on the far right. He said the spell for his luggage to appear, and then he started to unpack it too.

There soon came another knock at the door. "C'mon in, Jean yelled at the door from his bed, he was still unpacking. The door swung open. It was Henry Evard. "Hi Cel, Jean," he greeted them, "Oh you too Rémy. Sorry didn't see you over there." He fidgeted for a second. "Do you mind if I stay here with you guys? Benjamin already is in a full room, he just told me I can't stay in the same room as him."

Jean piped up and said over his shoulder, "Well you're the House leader, don't you have the final say in who stays where?"

"Well, yes I do, but, well… I don't really think its right to use my power to get what I want. So I'm not forcing anybody out, nor will I make anyone mad."

"Fine, sure you can room I guess." Célestin said calmly from his bed. He was just lounging there now, waiting.

The four boys stayed in their dorm talking the afternoon away, and prepping for their classes in the morning. Soon, around 5 o'clock they had to start to get ready for the Welcoming Ball. They decided that they should all go take showers, since it was quite hot that day, so they went and took their baths in the dorm bathrooms, located at the very top of the dorm, all the way on the ninth floor of the tower.

They returned to the room and started to get into their dress robes. The dress robes consisted of a light blue pair of dress pants, a white necked shirt with a ruffled collar and long white sleeves with ruffles at the end of those too. There was a light blue overcoat that went as the finishing touch of the ensemble, which had short Capri sleeves.

Jean parted his hair in the mirror, and smoothed it down with at least half a bottle of moose. Célestin did the same, but he didn't moose it. His hair looked too funny with moose in it.

As Henry was fixing his hair in the mirror, there was yet another knock at the door. "Come in" Henry called from the mirror.

The door opened slowly, and a small head peeped in though the crack. "H-Hello? Oh…. I though maybe this room would be empty." The head belonged to Antoine Marquet, a shy blond haired cinquième. "This is the last room. But I see you're all in here."

"Oh, no, that ok Antoine, you can stay with us." Henry turned from the mirror and said the last bit with a concerned smile in an "its ok" sort of way.

"I'm sorry that I have to bother you. Thank you very much for letting me stay though." Antoine said apologetically.

Henry finished doing his hair and turned around from the mirror, "That's alright, no problem. Now better hurry up, you don't have much time before dinner."

Notes & Vocabulary

Arrivés! – Literally "We have arrived!"

Ouais – Yeah

Fête de Bienvenu – The welcoming feast

7ème (Septièmes) is the "First Years" and 1er (Premiers) is the "Seventh Years" in Beauxbâtons, French grade levels go backwards.

1er; 2ème; 3ème; 4ème; 5ème; 6ème; 7ème – Abbreviations for the grades.

Septième(1st); Sixième(2nd); Cinquième(3rd); Quatrième(4th) ; Troisième(5th) ; Deuxième(6th) ; Premier(7th)

M. -- Monsieur

Mme. -- Madame

Mlle -- Mademoiselle

Football – European Football, that's soccer, NOT American football!

Salut! – Hi!

Its French custom to kiss a friend when you see them.

Cel, Telle, Jean – the nicknames for Célestin, Christelle and Jean-Jacques.

Pronunciation Help

BeauxbâtonsBo-baht-ons

Célestin ClemenceauSel-est-en

Jean-Jacques RousseauZhawn-Jacques

Christelle JobidonChris-tell

Mlle Guillard Mademoiselle Gie-yar

Mlle BasqueMademoiselle Bah-sk

Henry EvardEn-ri Eh-var

Benjamin JouveBen-zha-men Zhoo-ve

Antoine MarquetAn-twan Mar-kay

SoleilSol-ehi

NuageNew-azh

LumièreLumi-air

TerreTay-re

LuneLune

EtoileEh-twal


	2. Part II La Fête de Bienvenue

Part II- La Fête de Bienvenue

"Hurry up Jean! You're gonna' make us late!" Henry yelled back through the door to the room. Rémy, Célestin, and Antoine were standing next to Henry on the landing outside the tower room.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Jean yelled back through the door. From standing outside the door, they heard rushed footsteps and suddenly Jean flew out the door in his dress robes, his unruly hair was already falling in his face. No amount of moose could hold his hair.

"Well hurry up, its almost 6 o'clock. We have to be at dinner by then." Célestin said with a hint of concern.

The group headed down the stairs to the dorm's lowest level, it took longer than you would think to go down 4 flights of stairs. By the time they reached the bottom it was almost six o'clock.

"Hurry it up!" Rémy urged as they reached the statue of the dragon at the bottom of the stairs in the common room. Henry quickly drew Dagaz on the statue's eye. In seconds all of them were in the main corridor. "Alright then, GO!" Rémy urged again.

All five boys sprinted down the hall, powder blue overcoat tails flying behind them. The dim bluish light in the corridor cast eerie shadows on the group as they ran by to the already full main hall.

Stumbling into the Hall, and quickly finding a seat was a trick now that almost all the seats in the Hall were now taken. Célestin and Jean looked for Christelle and Pauline, but they couldn't see them anywhere near them, so they spotted a seat near the doors just to the right. There were a few open spots. Célestin walked over and got one of the seats, Jean sat down next to him, and there was now one seat open across from them, which was now filled by Antoine. Henry and Rémy had also found a seat somewhere, but they weren't visible anywhere now.

"Made it." Célestin whispered to Jean as the light in the Hall changed from a day time light to a soft purple and dark blues. The ceiling above them now showed hints of stars and constellations.

"Attentions Students," Madame Maxime stood up at her place in the center of the staff table at the west end of the Hall. Her voice carried across the entire Hall. "I would like to welcome you back to Beauxbâtons Academy for yet another year. I would also like to welcome our first year students, seeing as this is their first Welcoming Ball ever." The Hall erupted in cheers for the new students, but most of the new students looked bashful and embarrassed either because they didn't want the attention or they just wanted to jump right into magic. "I would also like to give a round of applause to our students for whom this is their last year at our academy, and their last Welcoming Ball." And now the Hall made even louder noise and all the premiers seemed to like the attention, and they courteously accepted the applause.

"But on to the real ideas. I officially now welcome you back to the Beauxbâtons Academy!" The applause and cheers started after that line and maybe only half the students heard the next part, "Now let the Ball begin!"

Platters of zoomed in on man-less wheeled carts and the plates whizzed down each of the 12 long tables in the Hall. Loafs of bread first came on large dished with butter. After the bread came the main dish, which for tonight was, oysters and shrimp with various sauces, and there was also veal and chicken.

"Miam miam, this is definitely better than last year, gross pork!" Jean noted as the main dish skidded to a halt in front of him. He picked up his silverware and dug in right away. Soon enough goblets of red wine appeared in front of all the students.

Célestin was too involved in eating to speak. He was such a slow eater, it was hard for him to be polite and not talk with his mouthful, and finish the course at the same time. So he just listened to the conversations around him and nodded to yes or no questions. Jean struck up a conversation with Antoine though. It was all about the Quidditch Matches of the year, and all the odd, the traded players and such, very informative.

Next to Célestin was Mélanie Dremont, a 2ème girl from Lune. She talked non-stop with her friend Lisa. The giggles never ended, nor the high pitched squeals. Célestin could stand them for only a short while, and he would've given anything to just start the dancing.

The next part of the meal zoomed on to the table from the un-manned carts. It was pâté, a liver paste that was eaten on crackers.

Jean looked at it in disgust, "Gross…. Liver….. I can't eat it. You take mine." He shoved his towards Célestin.

"Are you sure you don't want this? How often do we get pâté? Twice a year? And you're going to pass?"

"I'm positive!" Jean almost looked like he was going to be sick. But Célestin ate the pâté gratefully. Although he didn't really care for the taste it was still good somehow. Maybe it was one of those things that you have to acquire a taste for.

Dinner went on being quite un-eventful. Célestin eventually started to talk to the people around him, even with Mélanie, though she still squealed throughout the entire conversation. After the pâté, there came a salad and then after that, there was cheese.

The dinner was quite good overall, Célestin's stomach was appeased, although he didn't overeat like some of the students must have done, for some of them looked horrid after they finished their dinner.

Madame Maxime stood in her place once more and so did all the students with her. "Now that we have eaten, let the Ball begin! But before we do, I would like to remind students that this year is to be a learning experience. This is not just all fun and games we must work hard also to achieve our goals and graduate accomplished wizards. All right students, enjoys yourselves. Let the Ball begin!" And with that the tables disappeared and at the opposite end of the Hall, a stage appeared with an orchestra. This orchestra was interesting because there were no orchestra members. All the instruments played themselves.

"So first its classical I get it!" Jean nudged Célestin. "Let's go get dancing!"

"But we have to go meet Telle and Lina in the Court." Célestin objected.

"Ouais, we'll find them don't worry."

"That's what you always say lunkhead. Let's go find them first then we can dance. Besides I don't like classical dancing." Célestin grabbed Jeans arm and pulled him toward the North exit of the Hall, and towards the Inner Court.

Getting through the now immense crowd of people was getting to be a challenge. Everyone was now moving around looking for dance partners or was now dancing. They pushed their way through the crowd, slowly making it to the north exit. Finally they pushed their way past the last wall of students to see the north door. Célestin, still holding firmly onto Jean's arm, pulled him right through the open doors. Passing into the Northern Corridor, not many students were out in the corridors because of the ball, but there were a few. They passed Marine Frenier, a 2ème from Lumière.

"Hi Cel, hi Jean!" She said as they passed her. She was a really nice girl, they had a few classes with her last year. Being in her ball gown she looked especially pretty. The school's ball gowns that the girls wore were fashioned of a flowing powder blue satin. It was tight at the top, leaving the shoulders exposed and having two arm straps that went around the arms trimmed with gold sparkles. The bottom of the dress was very simple; it had three layers, the powder blue on the top, white in the middle and a darker blue on the bottom. Marine was also wearing a sash of blue with golden stars scattered about.

"Hi Marine." Cel walked up and gave her bisous. "How have you been?"

"I'm not too bad. And you two?" She asked looking at them with her bright blue eyes. Her eyes were roughly the same color as the blue ocean colored stone surrounding them.

"Oh we are just a bit tired, long day, were going to meet Pauline Leroux and Christelle now in the Inner Court." Jean answered for Célestin.

"Do you mind if I come with you?" She inquired with a hopeful look.

"No, sure you can come with us." Célestin said incorporating a cheery smile into his words.

"Thank you. I really don't want to go into the Ball room."

"Why not?" Jean asked.

"Because there is someone I don't want to see." She replied looking down at her feet.

"Who is it?" Jean asked his second question. Célestin elbowed him in the side for being rude, it really wasn't their business. They started walking slowly down the hall.

Marine obviously saw Célestin elbow Jean, because she immediately responded, "Oh it's a right Cel. It's Derek Vanier, the 2ème in Étoile… He refuses to see me." She said still looking at her feet. Marine and Derek have had a history. Last year they were the talk of the school, they were always together. So now it seemed strange that Derek wouldn't see Marine.

"I'm sorry. But I wonder why he is doing that?" Célestin said compassionately.

"That's just the thing, I'm not sure why he won't see me." They turned left around the corner, they were almost at the Inner Courtyard doors. "I just tried to talk to him this afternoon and he wouldn't have anything to do with me."

Inside the court yard, Célestin could see Christelle and Pauline standing in front of a large potted palm tree through the large windows that lined the hall facing the inner court. The night's pale moonlight filtered down onto their figures from the skylights six stories above them. The Inner Court was the indoor courtyard that took up the entire north-west corner of the castle. It had dozens of potter plants and flowers, and a water garden in the southern corner. There was grass inside the Court, just like the Outer Court, which was on the opposite corner of the castle. However this courtyard was on the outside of the castle, there was no skylight, it had no ceiling.

They opened the door to the inner court and stepped in.

"There you are." Christelle said with a smile. "We missed you at dinner. You were late huh?" Christelle finally noticed Marine, walking next to Jean. "Oh, hello Marine!" Christelle looked extremely beautiful in her uniform ball gown too.

"Hello Telle, Lina" She said back hiding her anguish behind a rather fake smile. She stopped just a bit behind Jean when they had reached Christelle and Pauline in front of the large potted tree about half way across the court. The pale light that lit the court was dancing in the fountain pool next to the pot.

"Well now that we all met up, let's head back. We still need escorts you two…" Pauline said eyeing the boys. She made a move to seize Jean's arm, and he took it graciously.

"Alright then. I don't exactly see why we had to come all the way out here, but ok." Jean said looking quite smug when he turned with Pauline to go.

"We better hurry up, we don't want to miss anything. Well… Christelle?" Célestin looked at Christelle and blushed a bit. He looked at Marine next to him, she was still looking down at her feet. "You too Marine."

Marine looked up immediately, she smiled and took his arm. Christelle slid her arm underneath Célestin's also, and they turned to walk out following Pauline and Jean who were now five paces a head of them laughing and giggling.

The three of them made their way back to the Grande Pièce giggling and talking the entire way. When the trio entered, Jean and Pauline ahead of them, the room was darkened, many stars and the bright moon lit the ceiling of the hall, and the mass of students were crowded around a circular stage that was now in the center of the room. On the stage there was a band, Célestin had never heard them before.

"I love Les Petites Sorcières!" Marine said loudly over the blaring music. The five girls on stage were rocking out to, all 3 guitarists making a show of their playing. "I just love Mélanie! She's the keyboardist, she's so cool." Marine finished off.

The group moved closer in to the mosh-pit of dancing wizards and witches. The five of them danced for about 30 minutes, until the lead guitarist grabbed the microphone and said very loudly, "Were gonna' take a break now, but until we get back to rockin', your headmistress would like a few words, and I think she has a bit of a surprise for you!"

At this the five female signers stepped back off the stage, and disappeared down through the top of the stage. Mme Maxime then stepped up, her short dark hair bouncing as she drew herself to her full height of more than ten feet. "I would like to say, welcome to all of you. To the Premières, I would like to bid you welcome to the Beauxbâtons Academie, and to the rest of you, to welcome you back for yet another year, which I am so pleased with all of you." Everyone in the room smiled at that remark. Usually, Mme Maxime didn't outright say she was pleased. "But this year is going to be a very good year for academics, our teamwork, to build our individual relationships with each other and our skills." At 'build our individual relationships' Jean turned around and sniggered at Célestin, who was standing very near to Marie, and Christelle was scrunched right up against his shoulder. Célestin glared back at Jean who seemed to take it as a compliment.

"This is why," continued Mme Maxime, "Our Quidditch teams will now be co-ed. The teams will comprise of a Female House, paired with a Male House. The teams will be as follows: Nuage and Soleil, Lune and Terre, and Lumière and Étoile. Teams will have two co-captains, of the existing captains. There will still be seven players on the team. Your captains will hold their own tryouts, and Mme Jacquemin will once again be your advisor in the sport."

Célesin and Christelle looked at each other and raised their eyebrows at this last part. Co-ed teams? That means, Célestin, Christelle and Jean would all be playing on the same team, suggesting they all made it.

Mme Maxime took a second of silence as the students went into a fluster of chatter about the teams. She finally put up a hand, at which the students stopped their conversations immediately. "I also have one last thing to say, before we get back to our feast." The headmistress displayed a large smile while saying this sentence. "I'm sure you all remember our champion Fleur Delacour?" Another wave of whispers went through the hall, but Mme Maxime spoke over them all in a very happy, and welcoming voice, "I would like to welcome back Miss Fleur Delacour to our school once again!"

Just like that, Fleur appeared out of thin air. She smiled graciously, and excited cheers and yells broke out that Fleur was back. Célestin gawked at her. She hadn't told him that she was coming back! She was supposed to be working in England, for a bank.

The Delacours and Clemenceaus were neighbors in Dijon France, to the South-East of Paris. They had known each other for a very long time, since they were kids. Fleur was three years older, but they had come to be good friends.

She stepped up to where Mme Maxime was standing and pointed at her mouth and her lips read _sonorous._ "Hello again everybody! I'm so glad to be back here." The hall erupted in cheers and screams again. Fleur had been quite popular at school, she could be a bit of a snob, but she was nice most of the time to everybody. OF course there were people that didn't really care for Fleur's company, such as Henry Evard. Henry didn't really dislike her, but she did get on his nerves.

"I came back to visit for a bit, I will be staying here in the castle for this week. I'll make sure I see all of you personally, ok?" She smiled very big, but sweetly as her blonde hair that was pulled back and done up in curls bobbed at the back of her head. "Now let's get back to that feast!" Mme Maxime nodded in agreement.

The band returned to the stage, and started to play again. Fleur slipped off into the crowd visiting various people, and greeting them happily.

"Did you know she was coming back?" Jean asked Célestin.

"No, I had no clue, she was supposed to be in England working for a bank. Her mother said she had to improve her English in order to start work for the International Confederation of Wizards."

"She has a job at the _Confederation_?" Christelle sounded amazed.

"Ouais, and the Bureau Fédéral de Magie." Célestin tacked on.

"Oh wow. I didn't know that!" Jean exclaimed.

They continued dancing for quite a while, it must have been around one hour to midnight when they had finally left the Grande Pièce. Célestin and Jean said goodnight to Christelle, Marine and Pauline, who went back to their dormitories.

"Well that's a surprise now isn't it?" Jean started up as they strode toward the Entrance Hall, and the statue of the crouched Dragon. "Fleur coming back to stay for a bit. I never expected that."

The reached the Entrance Hall. Célestin whipped out his wand and drew Dagaz and were apparated into the tower above.

"Jean, I'm so tried, let's just get to bed. We can talk later. Besides we have class tomorrow." The climbed the stair to their dormitory on the far end of the room. "Oh by the way, what do you have first tomorrow?"

"Oh we both have Charms and Hexes, with Mlle Auclerc." Jean yawned, "Maybe we can do some cool charms and hexes this year."

"Maybe. In any case, sleep sounds awfully good right about now."

They had reached the door to the Dormitory. Antoine was climbing into his four-poster bed with bright blue pajamas on. "Night!" He said gleefully as he pulled the light blue curtains shut. Each hanging had a yellow sun embroidered on it, since this was the House of the Sun. Célestin suspected that the other houses had their emblems on their hangings too, but he had never been inside another dormitory besides his own. Nobody else had returned to the dormitory yet besides Antoine and themselves.

"Night Antoine." Célestin replied back.

"Night." Jean said through his shirt trying to pull it off over his head. His overcoat was already lying on top of his trunk.

Célestin took off his powder blue overcoat and folded it neatly and stowed it away in his trunk. By the time he had pulled on his green pajamas, Jean was in bed in his red pajama bottoms and his dress robes lying all over his trunk.

"What? Not even going to wear _all_ of you pajamas?" Célestin said jokingly.

"Nope. It's too hot in here… Oh wait, it's just me." He laughed at his own joke. Célestin laughed too. "G'night then."

"Good night Jean." Célestin pulled his bed hangings shut, and flopped onto the bed.

_Why is Fleur staying here? Why isn't she in England? _He thought to himself. _I'll have to talk to her soon. I only have a few days though, before she leaves. _

Before he could think anymore, he drifted right off to sleep.

Notes

Miam miam – Yum!

Bisous – The customary greeting kisses.

Les Petites Sorcières – "The Little Witches"

Bureau Fédéral de Magie – Federal Bureau of Magic (The French Ministry)


End file.
